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What's in a name?

A Vampire by any other name would be as blood-sucking.  And who can argue with Shakespere.  But it is so crude to refer to the dark denizens of the night as "vampires".  So here are some options for what vampires call themselves and are called by others.

Word
 Meaning
Cannites The traditional WW vampire self-identification in the pre-Camarilla era.  Not used because of its Christian overtones.
Kindred The traditional WW vamprie self-identification in the post Camarilla era.  It has nice connocations of a close knit group of those in the know.
Lamia A Latin word meaning "witch" or "vampire".  WW sadly uses this term for one of our least favorite bloodlines.
Belua A Latin word meaning "monster".
Sodalis A Latin word meaning "member of a secret society or priest-hood".
Filius / Filia A Latin word meaning "son" or "daughter".
Frater A Latin word meaning "brother".
Soror A Latin word meaning "sister".
Patruelis A Latin word specifically meaning "descended from a father's brother," but also more generally meaning "cousin"
Dominus / Domina A Latin word meaning "master of the house."

Added into this mix of names, it should be remembered that there are currious relationships amoung the vampires and the mortals.  Vampires from the City or who might otherwise be assocated with the great families of the Fili Deorum would naturally refer to a companion as a frater or soror, and to a group of companion as their fratres.  A filius would refer to a fellow vampire who is, let us say, ignorant of the greater mysteries of things, as a patruelis.  This implies a relationship, but not a close one.  There are also Romanized vampires who speak Latin but are not part of the Fili Deorum.  These vampires are the majority of those found in the provinces.  They would refer to each other as sodalis, or when speaking of more than one fellow vampire, sodales.  

Mortals will also varry in how they refer to a vampire depending on their origion and class.  Someone who is priviledged to be the client of a filius would also use the term filius to refer to his or her paton and the patron's companions.  A mortal would likely know nothing of the filius / patruelis distinction and so would just refer to all vampires as fili.  A mortal unaware of the fili but still in the service of some vampire would refer to his or her master as dominus or domina.  Then there are the faceless masses of mortals, whose only contact with vampires is... unpleasant.  Such a mortal might scream lamia or belua to the uncaring night as they die.

Of course, the game is being run in English, so there is no need to memorize eight Latin words.  The English transaltions will suffice is most cases.  The term "Kindred" can be substituted in many situations as well, especially for sodalis.  The table above is modified below so translations that will be used in the game can be seen.

Latin Word
 Meaning
 Game Translation
Lamia A Latin word meaning "witch" or "vampire".  WW sadly uses this term for one of our least favorite bloodlines. Vampire
Belua A Latin word meaning "monster". Monster
Sodalis A Latin word meaning "member of a secret society or priest-hood". Kindred
Filius / Filia A Latin word meaning "son" or "daughter". Son / Daughter
Frater A Latin word meaning "brother". Brother
Soror A Latin word meaning "sister". Sister
Patruelis A Latin word specifically meaning "descended from a father's brother," but also more generally meaning "cousin" Cousin
Dominus / Domina A Latin word meaning "master of the house." Master

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